So, what challenges are most difficult for them?



Their biggest challenge, most adult students will say, is dividing their time between family, school, and career without any of the three suffering. Online education, which allows adults to schedule themselves far more flexibly than would be possible in a traditional classroom based program, has enabled a record number of nontraditional age students to return to college. But, even in online degree programs, students must keep up with their assignments and meet deadlines.

The ability to manage time efficiently and the self-discipline to work as hard as necessary are essential to the success of students of all ages. They are especially essential to adult students who must balance the demands of family, career, and the pursuit of a degree.

And, even students with great time management skills often overlook one important technique. A technique which requires little effort but can pay big dividends.

Unfortunately, there is no way to add days or hours to your week, but you can find extra hours, without much trouble, to work on your studies. All you have to do is think about fifteen minute "dead" periods during your week. If you can identify two fifteen minute periods a day during which you can study, you will have added three and a half hours a week to your study time.

What can you get done in just fifteen minutes? The list may be longer than you first imagine. You can email a question to a professor or classmate. You can find websites with information related to your readings or the topic of an upcoming paper. You can do some highlighting in one of your texts. Or, you can review and/or revise a few pages of notes. See the possibilities?

No doubt about it; fifteen minutes is enough tme to get something done. And, how hard is it to find a few fifteen minute blocks of time? Get up fifteen minutes earlier. Read while eating lunch or dinner. Bring schoolwork with you whenever you anticipate waiting. Spend an extra fifteen minutes in your office at the end of the day. Read for fifteen minutes before going to sleep. The possibilities are almost without limit.

I know a college student who spends between fifteen minutes and a half hour on her schoolwork whenever she returns to her apartment. By the way, she has been on the Dean's List during all of her five college semesters.

Everyone, no matter how busy, can find two fifteen minute periods a day to add to their regularly scheduled study time. And, the additional hours those minutes add up to can make a big difference in a student's level of success.